It has been quite a while since I last posted a photograph of Ben Cohen and although I’d like the picture to be a bit larger, it does seem to capture Ben from all the right angles.
This morning I had a good laugh when I saw the current Rolling Stones magazine cover in a Boston.com article. It features a naked Julia Louis-Dreyfus with the US Constitution and John Hancock’s signature scrawled on her back. It is unclear to me if the historical error is intentional or a gaffe. The Boston.com makes it seem that it was (sadly) the former.
You can read more about this in today’s Boston.com.
40 Berkeley, a 206-room hostel in the South End, sold for $17.2 million. According to the Boston Business Journal, the deal on the 80,000 square foot building closed last Friday.
Bruce Percelay, chairman and founder of the Mount Vernon Co., had this to say about his firm’s acquisition and plans for the space, “Given that we already have hotel experience with two properties in Nantucket and one in Portsmouth, NH, this is a business that intrigues us, and we feel there is a real opportunity in Boston to provide an affordable alternative to the more costly hospitality options in the city. The concept of small rooms and very attractive lobbies has taken hold in New York City and is certainly a consideration for us to apply in Boston.” Full story here.
Later this summer Woodmeister Master Builders will be moving into the retail space on the corner of Washington and Waltham Street in the Wilkes Passage building. This will be their fifth location with other stores in New York City, Nantucket, MA, Newport, RI and their home office in Holden, MA.
In related news, word on the street is the PetCo previously reported to open in the space across the street in Rollins Square may now be off. Conflicting rumors make this hard to determine for certain.
Have you seen this making the rounds on Facebook? Sergio shared it with me and I enjoyed it so I thought I’d pass it along as well.
In late November 2013, the Island Creek Oyster House team opened Row 34 in Fort Point Channel. The website describes the restaurant as “a working man’s oyster bar”. I have no idea what that means, but I don’t care because I loved everything about the restaurant. Executive Chef and part owner, Jeremy Sewall, is fast becoming my favorite chef in Boston. Row 34 seems like a smaller, more hip version of ICOH.
Photo from Row 34 Facebook Page
The dinner menu has a couple of turf options but this place is really all about the raw bar and seafood and it is here where Chef Sewall and his team really shine. We started our dinner trying their shrimp sliders that are $4 each and worth every penny. The lightly battered and fried shrimp are served with a chipotle sauce and sweet pickles sandwiched by a toasted bun that is light and buttery. Hashtag this #Delicious. 
We also tried the mussels ($10) served in a very garlicky, white wine broth that we initially dipped our grilled bread and later sipped with our oversized soup spoons after all the mussels were consumed.
For dinner Sergio tried the Maine crab cake ($24) that came served with a shaved fennel salad. I tried the crab cake but I preferred the pan roasted striped bass ($28) I ordered. It was served atop marinated cucumber, yogurt and fennel. The thick cut of fish was cooked perfectly and the cucumber and yogurt added a creamy flavor that paired especially nicely with the salty, grilled exterior.
After such a savory meal we opted to try one of Row 34’s tempting desserts and for those of you who love candy bars you *must* try Chef Sewall’s chocolate peanut candy bar with salted toffee ($6). Think of the best Snickers bar you’ve ever tasted then multiply that by ten times better and that is how I’d describe this dessert that I know I’m still dreaming about. I might just come back in for this and a coffee.
Just like it’s sister restaurant, ICOH, in Kenmore, this place is packed every night so I highly recommend making reservations. Give Row 34 a try if you’ve yet to dine here. I think you’ll love it. I know I did.
Row 34 is located 383 Congress Street in Fort Point Channel.
I doubt this guy is checking for a hernia and where the heck is the other guy’s head?
Do you find that more of your time is spent online and less of your time is spent face-to-face conversations with friends or family? This video is making the rounds, and I thought I’d share it.
I don’t feel lonely, I have a wonderful partner, strong family connections and a good group of friends who have known me for a long time and can call ‘bullshit’ when they see or hear it. However, I’m not immune to this feeling and I think many others feel this way too often.
Did you know that every Wednesday in April the Department of Astronomy at Boston University offers the public a chance to view the night sky through telescopes in their observatory.
Wednesdays, 8:30 p.m., Coit Observatory, 725 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, 617-353-2630, bu.edu/astronomy.
I don’t regularly share book reviews because I think there are a lot of great sites that do this far better than me. However, every once in awhile I read a book that I really like and want to share with others.
Earlier this year, I paid a visit to Boston’s sole remaining LGBT Bookstore, Calamus Bookstore, and picked up a handful of books. One of those books was Joseph Olshan’s The Conversion. I thought this story about Russell Todaro – a young American translator who wakes up in a hotel in Paris to find his lover (a world renowned poet) has died in his sleep – hard to put down.
Russell’s story unfolds in a villa in Italy after he accepts an unexpected offer from a celebrated Italian author to recover from the shock. While in Italy, Joseph Olshan shares more about Russell’s quest for love and overcoming a persistent writer’s block that he (Russell) learns his former lover attributed in his yet unfinished memoir to his fixation on failed relationships – Ouch!
Joseph Olshan lives in Vermont and is perhaps best known for his books, Nightswimmer and Clara’s Heart. You can learn more about the book and the author, here.
Posted in Book Review, What'cha Reading
Tagged BosGuy, Boston Guy, Calamus Bookstore
Readers of this blog may be familiar with The Welcoming Committee, a LGBT social group, that organize fun evening out and ‘take-overs’ in and around Boston. The group is mostly comprised of 20-30 somethings although those of us in the 40+ crowd have been known to also crash social events they have organized. TWC (for short) recently expanded into Philadelphia and will soon be coming to Washington D.C.
If you happen to live in the D.C. area and read this blog, would you mind leaving a comment with a way for me to get in touch with you? I’d like to connect The Welcoming Committee with some of my readers in the area.
Alternatively you can email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
This decision tree from Jaquelyn Leahy was posted on curbed boston earlier this week and I thought it was brilliant. Much better than Boston.com’s neighborhood survey that I posted yesterday. Moreover, this is fairly spot on – unfortunately it only includes the Boston’s downtown neighborhoods.
Because more is better.
Wow. I’ve been to my fair share of weddings but I’ve never seen anything quite like this.
BosGuy 